Tough
by Cobazi
Summary: So, the title it really just... nothing.   Takes place before Starship and after   rated T for safety


"_Tarsilia Aída Zayas, te preparas para tu Quinceañera, ahora!" _Tarsilia's mother knocked on her daughter's door, in return, receiving a loud thud. It was, like usual, a shoe. _"Rápidamente, los huéspedes llegan en una hora,"_ she called again even louder, this time walking down the stairs as she did.

"_Sé que mamá!"_ the girl snarled, a groan of frustration following. The fifteen year old muttered Spanish curses under her breath, clenching and unclenching her fists all the while. Today was the one day she had been dreading since birth. Her Quinceañera. Every girl in her family had dreamt of their "special day," and had all of their dreams come true. But not Tarsilia. She hated celebrations. They were overrated. Plus, what was there to be happy about when the Robot Wars were raging on. She had already been up for an hour, but had not been "productive," as her mamá would say. The girl plants her feet in front of her window and stares out into the small backyard. The once green grass had been colored a dry brown, overgrown by weeds and wilting plants. Ever since her_ papá_ had passed, nothing was taken care of.

"Tarsilia!" her door was thrown open by Elena. Tarsilia's sister gasped as she looked at her up and down. "Jou _idiota, _why haven't jou even changed?" she yelled at the girl, whom of which just shrugged and sat down on her bed, ignoring her sister's rant. "But I can't stay mad at jou," she embraces her sister in a hug and whispers in her ear. _"Feliz Cumpleaños."_

"_Gracias," _Tarsilia sighs as Elena quickly gets to work. She kept on talking about all of the boys she will dance with, how elegant she will look in her dress, how nice the cake will be, everything encouraging, but Tarsilia didn't listen. None of it mattered. She just wanted to be alone, like usual.

The long sixty minutes had finally passed as Elena steps away and holds her hands to her mouth. She had never seen her younger_ hermana_ look so beautiful. While the beauty was natural in Tarsilia, it was enhanced greatly due to the heavy make-up and strapless dress. "Jou are so dead for putting me in this," Tarsilia glares at her elder sibling and turns to the mirror. That wasn't her. No, that wasn't Tarsilia. The girl in the mirror was wearing a strapless white dress; small light pink roses were embedded along the side of it until they reached her waist, where the dress became a thin material. Tarsilia's sleek, black hair now rolled down in curls an inch below her shoulders. A small barrette kept her hair out of her eyes. Elena smiled and led the thin girl down the stairs.

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><p>Guests were everywhere, babbling about pointless things all around Tarsilia. Her dress was itchy and sticking to her bare legs because of the intense heat. She was so ready to just run away and become what she had always wanted to be. A Starship Ranger. While she was just turning fifteen, and the acceptance form stated that you must be eighteen to enter, Tarsilia didn't care. They would see how powerful she could be and accept her immediately. Well, that's at least what she had told herself.<p>

"Care to dance, _joven dama,_" a nasally voice crept into Tarsilia's thoughts as she faced the speaker with a dark expression.

"Me, dance with jou, Pablo?" Tarsilia laughed coldly. "Not in a million years." Her mother was very fond of Pablo, and she knew that he came from a wealthier family. She had always wanted her little _niña_ to marry him. Tarsilia didn't. Pablo was on the chubbier side, was a total wimp, and always had his thick black hair stuck to his large head with a boatload of gel. Disgusting. Tarsilia's ideal man was… Well, she didn't have one. She just knew that she'd know he was the one when she saw him.

"C'mon Tarsilia, jour _mamá's_ watching," he smirked and held out a sweaty palm. Tarsilia rolls her eyes and sees her mother. Whom of which, _was_ indeed watching the two.

"_Sí,_ but only thi-," a loud crash interrupted her, screams included. "Robots," she told herself under her breath. Everything happened so fast. Fires and gunshots alike polluted the air. She did the only reasonable thing to do, run.

"KILL ALL HU-MAN IN-SLAVERS," their metallic voices called over and over again. Lasers fired from their hands as they stomped through the village, leaving nobody alive. The smell of smoke and burning flesh wafted through the air, making Tarsilia cough. She hadn't run far, only reaching her _hermana_. Elena had tears in her eyes, not even trying to be strong.

"They killed _mama_," she whispered to Tarsilia. The younger one just nodded, gripping a metal pole that used to hold up their folding table. "Jou, go!" Elena shoved her sister out into the open and pointed for her to run. Tarsilia stared at her sister. Then, it was over. An earth shattering scream infected Tarsilia's ears as her sister was shot. Tarsilia looked up at the robot's expressionless face and her heart clenched. Pure hatred and anger shot through her veins as she let out a battle cry.

"JOU _HIJO DE PUTA!"_ she charged at the robot and beat it with her pole until it fell. She hit it in the head a few more times for good measure. Tarsilia looked down to her now dead sister, and swallowing a sob, blew her a kiss and walked away. She wasn't going to let sadness win over her anger.

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><p>"Lieutenant, an attack has occurred, report to the coordinates I have sent immediately, over," the voice call ends. Up had been assigned to protect the small Mexican village from the robot attacks, but had received his call way later than when he needed it. When he arrived at the village, he was barely two minutes too late. Bodies were lying motionless on the floor, homes were on fire, and the robots had already cleared out. He walked around through the burning homes, checking for signs of life, but no such luck. Another village destroyed, more innocent lives ended. Just as he began to walk back to his drop pod, a scream echoed through the empty village. The thick smoke blurred his vision slightly as he ran towards the screams. Once he neared, he noticed that the screams weren't out of being scared, but out of anger. He finally reached an opening were a large tree loomed, with a petite girl, swinging from it.<p>

"_¿Es eso todo lo que tienes que idiotas gordo!"_ the girl screamed to the three robots laughing coldly around her. She took a blow to arm with a large metal pole one of the robots was holding. The Latina cried out in another string of what Up figured to be Spanish curses. The girl was badly bruised, and every time she opened her mouth, blood fell to the now red grass. Her body was limp, looking ready to collapse, but her brown eyes shone with fury and determination. Up stared at her for a while before snapping back into reality. He pulled around his zapper and shot the three robots beating on the small girl.

Tarsilia's eyes grew wide as the anger vanished in her, turning into pain. "Jou weak _niña_," she scolded herself before turning to her rescuer. It was a tall ranger, with brown hair turning gray, and brilliant blue eyes. She stared into them, not even noticing him untying her.

"Took quite a beating there, hmm?" the man asked her, his Southern accent foreign to her ears.

"_Sí,_ they string me up like a _piñata_ to spill my guts," she spits. She lands on the ground, intentionally dodging the ranger's open arms to catch her.

"Can you walk?" he questions her, worry in his eyes. She lets out a stiff laugh and starts painfully down the hill, limping the whole way.

"Of course I can walk jou _idiota_," her accent making her slightly hard to understand. She muttered in Spanish under her breath as she made her way down to her charred home.

Up stared at her the whole time she walked down the hill. Her dress was mangled. The once pearly white gown was now streaked red with her blood and had ash and dirt smothered all over it. Her hair which appeared to be curled was matted and sticking up in every direction. But she really was beautiful. He shook the thought from his head. She appeared to be barely a teenager.

"Excuse me, but where are you going, the drop pod is that way," he points in the complete opposite direction from which they were walking.

"I need to get something, I knew dat jou wouldn't mind though," she enters her now destroyed house and walks up what remains of the stairway. Her home wasn't in very bad condition, considering all of the other homes that went up in flame. Up figures that she is getting belongings, which he respected, but she shouldn't be. The robots were more than likely to return.

"We really should-"the girl turns and glares at him. He stops, his hands up in accusation. He decided that he would wait until she got better to go tough on her. While she had glared at him, she looked completely drained. Tarsilia walked into her still intact room. The only thing wrong with it was the shattered lamps and such, but mostly it just added on to the usual mess. She opened her closet and pulled out a white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of old black combat boots. She gingerly stripped of her dress when Up stopped her. "What are you doing?" he asks her, blushing under the ash on his face.

"I'm changing, what does it look like?" she takes off the dress completely, leaving her with only her underwear. She throws the dress in the corner and slides on her shirt and jeans with ease. Up felt uncomfortable, so he just turned and faced her small twin bed. Right above her bed were three letters. TAZ. _So her name is Taz_… Up smiled to himself. The name definitely fit her. "I'm finished," she dropped her foot against the dark hardwood floor. "Let's go," she grabs her father's knife, placing it inside of her pants pocket and marches out of the room, her whole body aching.

"Taz?" the Latina turns to face him, a confused expression plastered on her tan face.

"_Que?_ Dat's not my na-"she stops before finishing her sentence. She runs over the name Taz in her head various times, trying to overwrite it with her real name. She swallows hard and faces him, her expression hard. "_Si_, dat's my name… what's yours?" she asks the tall man, her voice slightly monotone.

"Up," he speaks gruffly and walks past her and out of the house. Taz smirks, breaking her stony expression. Up? The hell kind of name was that?

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


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